In the days of yore, it seems like you couldn’t be defined as a true gentleman adventurer without killing somebody – and preferably several somebodies. In 1899 (which firmly qualifies as yore), The New York Times published an article entitled, “The Gentleman Adventurer in Letters,” which discussed fictional characters inspired by the LGA. The article explained:
In all ages the gentleman adventurer has played a most important part, and even such sacred wars as the Crusades would not have come to much without his aid. The Spanish Armada was largely manned by the representatives of this type of humanity, and the flag of Sir Francis Drake could not have flown as a gonfalon of terror in the West Indies without him.
Fortunately for us, the original rules and bylaws of the LGA which defined a gentleman adventurer were lost long, long ago, meaning that we can pretty much make up whatever definition we want.
Read the rest of this entry »
Andy in Yemen posing with a guide and a soldier who was there to scare off potential kidnappers
“It’s such an adventure — that’s the only way to cope with it.” Now that is how to deal with being kidnapped! These were the words of Heleen Janszen, who, along with her husband, was surrounded by Yemeni tribesmen bearing Kalashnikov rifles last week and taken to the mountains east of the capital.
Fortunately for this adventure-minded couple, Yemen is actually one of the better countries of the world in which to be taken hostage. When I was there, locals and foreigners alike regaled me with stories of local kidnappings, which don’t involve the rather unpleasant techniques seen elsewhere in the world (removal of ears, fingers, heads, and so forth) and only rarely end in violence (only 5 of the over 200 foreigners kidnapped in Yemen in the past 15 years have been killed).
Read the rest of this entry »